Obsessed, Part II

2009 -- major life changes. I might have not coped so well if not for my family and friends, but I also got this boy right here.

Yes, Kris Allen. American Idol's 9th 8th* season brought me this beautiful boy, and brought out the most obsessive fangirl in me.

I think it was already during the top 5 that I moved from watching AI every time it was on, to scouring the internet for everything I could get my hands on Kris. I started out with kris-pics, but I wanted MORE.

And that was when I discovered ONTD_AI. It was like crack for me. But I mostly observed, and read only the posts, and never commented. Some (most?) of them hated Danny Gokey and his smarmy face (sorry to fans!) too, and shipped Kradam as well! I discovered Kris appreciation posts wherein all imaginable media will be posted about Kris and I tried to save them all. I saved them all. Thus the Kris Allen folder was created. (And I participated in the Kris appreciation posts. WAT?)

And then he won! OMFG HE WON AMERICAN IDOL. I would like to say I contributed to that win, as I called his hotline numbers as much as I could, even though I was here in the Philippines. And the pictures and videos and mp3s just kept on coming, so folders within folders were made.

Then came his birthday, and ONTD_AI had this brilliant idea of making a birthday video for him using the AI winner song No Boundaries. Guess who submitted a picture? And involved her daughter as well? Good thing it can no longer be found in Youtube. LOL. (Of course I have my own copy! Not sharing though, hee)

The top 10 then went on tour, and I was a goner. I made an effort to listen to cellcasts during weekends even though I really couldn't hear anything beyond the crowd. Every night, I would search Youtube for his performances, from wherever city they just came from, and I would download them all. By then I had more than 20 videos and mp3s of Kris Allen singing All These Things I've Done, Heartless, Bright Lights, Hey Jude, and Don't Stop Believing with the other top 10. I also saved pictures of Kris when he came out to sign autographs before the show, and pictures of Kris during the show (which you can hardly distinguish from each show as they wore the same thing every time LOL). He got a Twitter account during the tour too, so it was just constant checking on his account all the time. Mind you, I did that from June to September, from the start of the tour up to the end of the tour. My internet life revolved around Kris Allen during those months. And ONTD_AI was my constant companion.

So the tour ended, and I thought this madness was going to stop. But nooooooooooooo, Kris Allen got himself a band, and went on tour to promote his album. He had some appearances as well in different awards shows, visited late night shows, morning shows, and for me then, he was like EVERYWHERE. So many videos, so many photos, so many songs.

By then, I have weaned myself out of ONTD_AI, and re-discovered Tumblr. Not wanting to post Kris Allen stuff every single time in my personal Tumblr (I was thinking of my followers, some of who were my real life friends -- I didn't want them to complain when I take over their dashboard with so much Kris LOL), I created an account purely for Kris Allen posts. And so Fuck Yeah K-sizzle was born.

That was then I knew I was completely over the edge already -- I was not only saving media anymore, I was creating them to be posted... in a fan site! I slept late and woke up early, so I could create collages and graphics and queue them while I was in the office. I mean, then, I was thinking, I had a load of photos in my hard drive, why not put them into good use? At the same time, promotions were being done for his album, and lo and behold, a music video! There was still so many new stuff to post in Tumblr.

His album came out, and finally, new material to fawn over! The album came out here in December, and it was a totally unexpected and lovely surprise when I finally saw one in a music store! By then, I've already put in his album in our office Christmas wish list site, but I made a note that it was okay if I got multiple copies haha! Luckily, my Kris Kringle parent had relatives coming over from the US, and she gave me the Wal-mart version of the album -- it had extra songs in there! :D Because of that wish in the list, I now have 4 copies of Kris Allen's CD.

However, it was also then that I gave up the Tumblr fan site. I just couldn't deal with the lack of sleep and constant tardiness it caused me. I realized that I can be a fan of Kris without resorting to that kind of madness. Following him on Twitter, and giving a random reply to him every now and then, was enough for me to stay ~connected to him. I had his music (and that overblown folder) and that was fine with me.

And so when came here for a show in 2010, I went as just a fan, and no longer an obsessed fan. Of course I got the most expensive ticket I could afford then, of course I went alone, of course I took videos of every song he sang. That's what normal fans do right?

I still love me some Kris Allen (my flash drives' names will attest to that) and he will always have a special place in my heart. When his new album comes out, expect that I will put it up again in our office's Christmas wish list ;)

You might think I have exhausted all of my obsessive capabilities on Kris, but stay tuned for part 3, as I do not only have Kris Allen in my tracked tags in Tumblr ;)

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* Thanks Anon for pointing out it out. See, I'm not that obsessed anymore! Ha!